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March 2014

03/27/2014

Two firefighters who died in a Boston townhouse blaze on Wednesday are being hailed as heroes. Lieutenant Edward J. Walsh and Firefighter Michael R. Kennedy were among the crews fighting a fire in a four-story townhouse in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood.

“In 30 years I’ve never seen a fire travel that fast, escalate that quickly, and create such havoc in such a short period of time,” Boston Deputy Chief Joseph Finn tells The Boston Herald. “The wind was blowing in off the Charles (River), it drove the fire and combustibles and everything with it to the front of the building where two members of Engine 33 were assigned trying to make headway on the fire.”

The Boston Herald reports that the firefighters issued a mayday call just minutes after they rushed into the building's basement. Deputy Chief Finn said he believes a window in the front of the building shattered and the wind pushed the fire toward them.

In 1972, Boston experienced its worst firefighter loss just a few blocks from yesterday's fatal blaze. The Hotel Vendome fire killed nine Boston firefighters; a memorial near the site of that fire commemorates the loss.

03/25/2014

Fire departments around the country have eagerly awaited the most recent update to the Fire Suppression Rating Schedule (FSRS) developed by the Insurance Services Office. This system classifies communities according to performance in emergency communications, fire response and suppression and water supply, and has provided these ratings to insurers for more than 30 years. Insurance companies purchasing this data use it to develop underwriting practices – so improved ratings can lead to lower insurance premiums for homes and businesses in many instances.

What’s new with this long-awaited revision? First, ISO is referencing many more NFPA codes and standards than in the past. This means that as the NFPA documents are revised, the rating schedule will be revised – a great way to ensure that the ratings keep up with new technology and changing practices. Communities all over the US will also be happy to learn that for the first time, they can earn “extra credit” – up to 5.5 points – for demonstrating fire prevention, education and investigation programs. In other words, the ratings – and thus many insurance companies – will begin to account for fire mitigation programs in a quantifiable and creditable way.

NFPA has developed a resource list of all the codes and standards referenced in ISO’s rating schedule, along with a wealth of resources for fire departments and communities to consider when updating or initiating fire prevention and education programs. Check www.nfpa.org/iso for a list with links to each standard and much more on Firewise®, Learn Not to Burn®, Remembering When® and other fire prevention tools that might give your community a leg up on improving its fire safety ratings.

Last week, Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe used his weekly column and radio address to discuss the statewide emphasis on NFPA's Firewise program. The timing on his address is ideal as the wildfire activity in Arkansas is already surging this year. Additionally, because of unusually low humidity levels, there will continue to be a higher risk for these unpredictable and dangerous blazes.

Beebe does point out that fortunately, Arkansas communities and local fire departments work hard to mitigate and prevent wildfires year round. In 2013, Arkansas was actually the number one Firewise state in the country, having more communities than any other. While he is proud of this distinction and all of the the effort to this point, he reminds all that "our vigilance must continue to increase for the upcoming fire season."

Beebe goes on to discuss how communities can get involved with the state's Firewise program if they are not already, and why doing so will be beneficial both to homeowners, their neighbors, and the firefighters working to protect them all. Take a look at Beebe's full column for all of his remarks, and be sure to take his advice!

He says that public educators can do one of two things - project what they see as ideal onto new places they visit, or enrich their perception by listening and learning what people in each new place considers ideal. He goes on to describe the development of the Ready, Set, Go! program that he worked on as an employee with IAFC. He developed a national model of a successful program, that all departments, regardless of size or type, could implement by visiting all 50 states and learning what wildfire risk meant to each state's residents.

Read more about Lucian's experience and advice, and why he feels that residential responsibility is essential to successful wildfire mitigation and preparedness in this month's Wildfire Watch column.

Are you an artist between the ages of 6 - 18 or know someone who is? If so, then you don't want to miss out on NFPA'sFirewise calendar contest. Enter your "hottest" artwork on the theme of "Wildfire Preparedness: Living Compatibly with Nature" for publication in our 2015 Firewise calendar, and have an opportunity to win an Amazon gift card!

The contest begins March 19. Deadline for submissions is June 2, 2014.

Create a drawing showing a wildfire or an activity, event or project that highlights wildland fire safety or something that helps keep wildland firefighters safer.

An entry must be either the original drawing on a 12” x 18” white poster board or sturdy construction paper, mailed flat and labeled on the back with the Participant’s first name and last initial.

Don’t like to draw? Create an original artwork on the wildfire theme and take a really good photograph of it. The photograph of the original drawing or other original artwork should be in .jpeg or .tif format of at least 300 dpi and at least 1 megabyte in size in portrait or landscape format. Put the photograph on a CD labeled with the Participant’s first name and last initial.

Fill out the Entry Form and follow the Contest Rules to send your drawing or photograph to the folks at the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) so they receive it by June 2, 2014.

Find out who won a spot in the calendar and a $25 Amazon® gift card by checking on www.firewise.org aound June 13, 2014. And of course, NFPA will tell you if you are a winner!

03/17/2014

If you haven’t heard, as part of this year's America's PrepareAthon, FEMA is kicking off its first National Day of Action on April 30, 2014. The year-long PrepareAthon campaign provides an important opportunity for individuals, organizations and communities to prepare for specific hazards including tornadoes, floods, hurricanes and wildfire. Through drills, group discussions and exercises, residents can increase emergency preparedness awareness in their communities, and encourage their neighbors to make preparedness part of their daily lives.

This preparedness concept is of course, near and dear to our hearts at NFPA. As you have heard, we will be launching our first national Wildfire Community Preparedness Day on May 3. And while at first glance, this may seem a little confusing, having both events launch so close together, and you may think, hmmm, my community couldn’t possibly do both, well, we think both the PrepareAthon/Day of Action and Wildfire Community Preparedness Day form the most perfect union.

Consider this:

Are you participating in the Wildfire Community Preparedness Day campaign on May 3? Or maybe you have planned an activity for April 30,, the Day of Action? Well, there may just be a way to participate in both!

Here’s what I mean … does your Wildfire Community Preparedness Day activity call for two stages? Consider doing Phase 1 on April 30 and Phase 2 on May 3. Or maybe you use April 30 as a day to organize – getting together all of your supplies, signage, etc. ready for May 3. Perhaps you target April 30 as the day you blanket your community with flyers, send messages through social media or create discussion forums online with like-minded community members about wildfire safety and risk reduction activities happening in your neighborhood. No matter how you slice it, there’s never only one day to prepare – reducing our wildfire risk requires everyone’s involvement many times a year.

03/14/2014

The Technical Committee on Forest and Rural Fire Protection (FRU-AAA) submitted a request to the NFPA Standards Council at its October 2013 meeting to reorganize into two new technical committees with more well-defined scopes. The proposed committees would separate the current document workload, increase the number of wildland fire protection experts involved, and increase the capacity for the committees to take on new projects. The NFPA Standards Council approved the proposed reorganization of FRU-AAA at its quarterly meeting just this past week in San Juan, PR. NFPA is currently seeking members to develop balanced rosters for the two new committees. The application deadline for the development of the new committee rosters is May 12, 2014. These rosters will be submitted for approval at the August 2014 meeting of the NFPA Standards Council. Please take a look at the details below, and submit an application online to the committee, or committees, of your expertise.

The Technical Committee titles below contain links where applications can be submitted online. The approved reorganization of FRU-AAA will result in the following new committees and corresponding document assignments: